Glasgow 3rd of June 2018. The Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU) is pleased to announce the winner of the SRUK/CERU Merit Award 2018 aiming to recognize the career of a senior Spanish researcher in the UK with a prominent role in the advancement of research. The Board of Directors of SRUK/CERU decide to award this recognition to Prof. Maroto-Valer, Assistant Deputy Principal (Research & Innovation) and Director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS) at Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh), for her extensive scientific and internationally renowned career, which has been instrumental in the advance of Science. SRUK/CERU also recognises Prof Maroto-Valer as a prominent role model for women in science and technology.
Prof Maroto-Valer, started her studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Basque Country (Spain) and obtained her PhD at the University of Strathclyde (Scotland). After working in the United States for 7 years at the Centre for Applied Energy Research (University of Kentucky), and at the Pennsylvania State University, she joined the University of Nottingham as Reader in 2005 and within 3 years she was promoted to Professor in Energy Technologies. During her time at Nottingham she was Head of the Energy and Sustainability Research Division at the Faculty of Engineering.
She joined Heriot-Watt University in 2012 as the first Buchan Chair in Sustainable Energy Engineering and she has been Director of the cross-university Energy Academy and Head of the Institute of Mechanical, Process and Energy Engineering. Currently, she is the Director of the Research Centre for Carbon Solutions (RCCS), a world leading engineering centre focused on delivering innovation for the wider deployment of carbon dioxide capture, storage and utilization technologies. She has been awarded a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Award, leading a team that develops “novel solutions to meet the worldwide strive for energy, with particular emphasis on clean technologies, including carbon dioxide capture, transport, storage and utilization”. She has over 440 publications, and 32% of her publications are in top 10% most cited worldwide. She holds leading positions in professional societies and editorial boards and has received numerous international prizes and awards, including 2013 Hong-Kong University Mong Distinguished Fellowship, 2011 RSC Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Early Career Award, 2009 Philip Leverhulme Prize, 2005 US Department of Energy Award for Innovative Development.
With this recognition, Prof. Maroto-Valer has been also awarded an honorary membership of the Society and she will also become a distinguished adviser for SRUK/CERU. The president of SRUK/CERU, Dr Javier Escudero, highlighted during the Award Ceremony that “Prof Maroto-Valer is prime example of a world-leading Spanish researcher working in UK. She is a role model for our members and SRUK/CERU is proud to recognize her outstanding career with our Merit Award”.
